Guest blog - Speech recognition: things you might not know

By Rhodri Buttrick on 5 July 2010

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  1. You can use Speech Recognition Software with almost any application
  2. If you have difficulty manipulating a mouse because of a physical disability, you might find browsing the Internet difficult. Dragon labels each of the hyperlinks with a number so all you have to do is call out the number and it clicks on the link for you.
  3. Youtube is now trialling subtitles on certain videos which are generated by speech recognition. They are not totally accurate yet, but I’m sure they soon will be.
  4. If you receive Speech Recognition Software as part of the Disabled Students Allowance, you can also ask to receive training in its use.
  5. The accuracy of speech recognition improves if used properly.
  6. It is possible to create specialist vocabularies to suit your particular work. Some manufacturers already have specialist dictionaries, such as medical and legal.
  7. If there is a particular piece of text you find yourself having to write a lot, such as your address when you write a letter, dragging allows you to have a code word for it. For instance, there is the option to program it to type out your entire address everytime you say the phrase ‘my address’.
  8. Dragon can be used to help you browse the Internet. When using a regular browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, Dragon automatically labels the hyperlinks with numbers. To click on the hyperlinks, you simply call up the numbers. You can also speak the names of the hyperlinks to click on them. This is particularly useful for those with physical impairments which make using a mouse difficult.
  9. It is a common belief that Speech Recognition does not work for regional accents. This is not true. What matters is pronouncing words consistently and not leaving out sounds.
  10. It is also a myth that children can’t use Speech Recognition. I started using it when I was ten and I didn’t have to do much retraining when my voice broke!

Comments

  • David Evans commented on 16 July 2010 at 11:34 am

    There are two more myths worth exploring about speech recognition software:

    1: that it doesn’t work in an office or class room environment. This assumption is well out of date. If you use a decent headset it will cope very well with ambient noise.
    2: that it only works with select applications. It is true that it is designed to work with MS applications but there is a clever tool called Voxenable which creates an interface between Dragon and a growing number of specialist applications. Well worth looking at.

  • Rhodri commented on 16 July 2010 at 5:06 pm

    Hi, thanks for your comment. I think I covered your 1st point in this blog post- http://www.webcredible.co.uk/blog/guest-blog-speech-recognition-part-3-dispelling-the-myths

    As for the 2nd one, I can’t believe I overlooked it! I guess I’ve used it for so long I just take it for granted Dragon can work with pretty much everything. To my knowledge I don’t use Voxenable, is it built into Dragon? Or is it an extra add-on?

  • Nic Price commented on 2 August 2010 at 2:00 pm

    A handy list. Dragon has helped several colleagues over the years.

    Just wondering if in point 7 it should say “Dragon” rather than “dragging.”

  • aisha commented on 11 April 2011 at 6:31 pm

    Speech recognition is a special kind of software that seems to be higly compatible for disabled students or other person as they dont possess hands and speech easily gets transformed into text.They also help to provide the reliable and accurate information.Proper trainings are provided for using these softwares that is highly encourage able.

    Thank u

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